Escort speedo styles - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

EA90_S · 04-08-2004, 06:56

Hello guys

What kind of material is used to make the EA-ED speedo, tacho etc. as i want to make my escort speedo and tacho like a EA one were the light shines from behind the numbers. i was thinking of getting one made up same shape as the metel speedo and the putting the EA "style" one in place of it.
where could i get something like this done??
cheers

SileNceR · 04-08-2004, 07:27

depending on the feeds perhaps you could modify an ea one to put in its place, just an idea...

i'd say its a manufactured material made just for the purpose - could be acheived using, I can imagine, plexiglass/lexan - just sand one side, then print onto sticky transparency film what you want (ie, everything black except the numbers - use a laser printer or something) and finish with a black permanent marker or paint pen to make sure it's an even completely black finish except where you want the letters...

just an idea, but allows you to do basically anything as you can design it all in photoshop or a word processor etc - fairly cheap too and you could use this method to make labels for anything in your car that you want to be able to see at night.

EA90_S · 04-08-2004, 08:00

How hard would it be to modify the ea one

hrmmmmmmmm might have to look into this abit more. where could i get plexiglass? the hard part would be to copy the orignal speedo onto the pc.

SileNceR · 04-09-2004, 06:35

any hardware place should have plexi

as for copying the original speedo, you could pull it apart and get the actual speedo plate and scan it...

the other thing also is you could print onto even paper colored dials to put over the transparency as the transparency with the black would block the light yet still allow you to have colored dials... and the unprinted paper (white) would just dull/diffuse the backlighting a little more

EA90_S · 04-09-2004, 06:52

so whats envoled do i just scan the speedo then print it onto a transpartent paper?? then attach it to the plexiglass right. iam confused lol

SileNceR · 04-09-2004, 08:09

well... basically..

1 - get clear plexiglass (gives u a hard but clear surface to start with)
2 - get some clear adhesive "Transparency" the stuff used for overhead projection but sticky back, u can print on this...
3 - pull apart old speedo, scan into say photoshop (should keep actual real dimensions)
4 - do what you need to make it so that everything is black except the numbers (you may need to simply convert the image to 2 colors and then invert it... (so the numbers/any logos etc u want clear are white)
5 - test print onto paper to make sure it's the right size and looks ok
6 - print onto adhesive transparency
7 - sand the back of the plexiglass (so you cant see straight thru the numbers!)

then test it and see if u can see thru the black on the transparency if there is light behind - if you can use a sharpie or similar to color over your printed black, or make another sheet of transparency until u cant see thru

for coloured dials you could print in color on another sheet of adhesive transparency, (not the numbers themselves) using your original 2 color file and adjusting color to suit... you could do this from the start and that way if you can still see thru it might not matter so much - blue glowing instruments, only the numbers are lighter etc - depends on color...

just an idea for a way of doing it.

EA90_S · 04-11-2004, 00:36

how about white face dials(not ea style) how could i go about doing that.
do i just print it on to paper and cut it out and put it over the orignal speedo???

EA90_S · 04-11-2004, 07:54

Were would i buy that adhesive transparncy paper from?? i looked at my office works catalouge and they just have the standard transparent paper.